Citadel Defense Co., based in Mission Valley, has been sold to an Alabama company that includes space warfare in its focus.
BlueHalo, owned by Arlington Capital Partners based in Washington, D.C., acquired Citadel for an undisclosed price.
“Under the BlueHalo platform, our new and existing customers will benefit from an expanded set of capabilities, talent and resources to achieve greater mission impact,” said Chris Williams, CEO of Citadel.
“We are excited to join an innovative company that we know will continue to push the boundaries of what is possible,” Williams said.
BlueHalo CEO Jonathan Moneymaker said Citadel “has established itself as a leader” in developing counter-drone systems.
Citadel “continues to innovate at a pace necessary to stay ahead of the rapidly evolving threat environment,” Moneymaker said.
“We are incredibly excited to partner with the Citadel team as we continue to expand our cUAS (anti-drone) capabilities and deliver transformative, market leading solutions to our customers,” Moneymaker said. “The combination of Citadel and BlueHalo’s unique technologies, deep mission intimacy and systematic approach to innovation will accelerate our technology roadmap and allow us to rapidly field technologies critical to the war fighter.”
Citadel Defense develops automated, on-demand counter drone systems for military, government and commercial end users, according to the company’s LinkedIn page.
Using artificial intelligence and machine learning, Citadel’s technology is designed to thwart individual drones and swarms of drones.
Citadel’s Titan system was the first anti-drone system designed and developed to meet critical operator requirements around autonomy, ease of use, and relevance across multi-domain operations, according to the company.
More than 300 Titan units are deployed in 13 countries.
Among those that use Citadel technology are the U.S. Special Forces, the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force, the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Department of Energy, stadium security teams, airport operators, corporate protective services and U.S. military allies.
Founded in 2016, the company said that it has developed “best in breed” products “that leverage proprietary artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to enable operators to locate drone threats, track flight paths and autonomously neutralize threats.”
